It still surprises me that Olds got the axe right after producing some of the most (seemingly) innovative cars to leave GM factories: Achieva, Alero, Aurora, Intrigue. It seemed like Pontiac and Chevy were still doing the same old badge-engineering that had bitten them in the 80s, but Olds appeared to at least be trying. ... View more

OK Rob, you talked me into ordering your AC book. The aftermarket system in my '54 isn't blowing as cold as it did last summer, even after a recharge. Looking forward to learning what's what! ... View more

Nicely done!   Does learning to weld metal count?  I had been begging friends to patch and re-patch the original, rusty, 30-year-old exhaust header on my racecar for several years before I finally took a torch welding class and bought a bunch of tubing... and a year or two later, I finally dusted off the tubing and got to work. It took me about a month of evenings and weekends but the result (A) fits and (B) still hasn't cracked.  I was so proud when I finished a 100-mile road race with MY header still in one piece!   ... View more

"An evening of driveway work later and the truck was back on the ground." DUDE! Really?? AN evening, as in, one single evening that occurred at the end of just one day? An evening's work in my driveway only ever ends with yet another list of parts for me to order. And you're telling me that every single bolt lined right up and went in without half an hour's struggle with punches and drills and hammers, not a single bolt snapped off and had to be drilled out, and every last part you ordered was the correct one that fit perfectly the first time?? I call shenanigans. At least your trip to the alignment shop sounded realistic. A simple job, handed off to pros with all the right tools, who come back and say "impossible" -- yeah, that sounds more like my life. ... View more

+1, Spencer30! I have a very old book from my Dad's basement library about getting into racing (back when "all" race cars were MG-Ts). One tip was aimed at making the dipstick easier to see, so your mechanic spends less time searching in the dark engine bay: Paint the dipstick handle (which back them was probably bare metal) a bright color., like day-glo yellow. Small coincidence that many cars beginning around 1980 have a yellow plastic handle on the dipstick! ... View more

I've tried it. It doesn't work. Try removing the phrase "car lovers" and see if it sounds right to you. "Winter is an annoyance for we." Double ow! If the car lovers were the subject of the sentence, "we" would have been correct. ("We car lovers find winter annoying.") But since "we car lovers" are the object of the preposition "for", that makes "us" the correct form. And before you jump on me for being a grammar snob... this was as much for me to get it straight it my own head. ... View more

Great tips that I need to work a LOT harder on following! I swear by plastic bins, tackle boxes, and Edsal shelving. When we moved to Texas, we learned that cardboard boxes also attract scorpions. And one more reason for "setting up the shelves so your plastic bins just fit between the varying layers" is to prevent the top of a bin from becoming another shelf. It's so frustrating to realize you need something from a bin which has half of another project stacked on top of it. Another tip you hinted at in a caption: Your workbench is not a shelf. And yes, I need to print that out and tape it to my own workbench. I currently have several shelves with less stuff on them than my workbench has. ... View more

Any news on the Android version yet? Is there somewhere we can sign up to be guinea pigs for a beta version?   ... View more

One of the biggest benefits for me has been in troubleshooting.  I get frustrated when my wife is ready to call in a pro, not because "I can do it myself!!" -- more often than not, I can't and I'm the first to admit that -- but because I would much rather give the pro a page of useful information rather than waste his time letting him figure it out.  If it turns out to be one of the few things I'm capable of fixing, that's just a bonus.     The only downside is when the pro('s secretary) automatically replies by telling me to go through the basic "try turning it off and back on" steps. Yes, I've done that and I already told you what the results were, and I've told you the three other tests I've performed, what next please??  ... View more

THANK YOU Kyle for posting this (and thanks to ChrisFix too for making it look so do-able)!! I got a nasty rock chip in the front fender of my '54 Bentley (yes, really) and was getting ready to just live with it when this article came along. I spent less than $30 on paint and sanding kits from Amazon, spent 3 weekends sanding, painting, wet sanding, re-painting, re-sanding... I'm really not even done but already you'd need a magnifying glass, a bright LED light, and me pointing it out before you could find it. The blending isn't perfect because the old paint is faded, but at least it's super-dark black against slightly less dark black. Before, it was glaring bright bare metal against black. You could have seen it with your eyes closed. And before you scream at me... half the paint on the car is original, and looks it. The rest of the paint is a mix of professional repaint and driveway rattle-can job. There are plenty of other, bigger flaws that will keep it from getting "best in show" any time soon. It's a driver, and now I can drive it again. Paint me happy and hella proud that I did it myself! ... View more

My dad's Porsche 911, which he let me use for autocrosses. I had just finished bleeding the brakes with my brother and was setting my trusty torque wrench when he asked "why are you doing that? Dad always just stomped on a breaker bar." I explained the difference between aluminum Porsche wheels and the steel wheels on a VW Beetle, but I must have found the explanation much more interesting than he did. Instead of actually USING the torque wrench, I absent-mindedly re-set it to zero and put it away, running my stupid mouth the whole stupid time. Lucky doesn't begin to describe the fact that I was only going about 25mph when I heard the whump-whump-whump. I got it pulled over just in time. And my brother was following me in his car, so he ran home and got the torque wrench while I sat in the car, trying desperately to stop shaking. ... View more

Brilliant!! I work for a company that sells a lot of silicone hose. You may have just helped a lot of my customers. That method could work for other soft materials too (thin plastic, maybe even gasket material??). ... View more

This is exactly the kind of fundamental troubleshooting that people don't seem to be taught anymore (myself included).  Kudos and thank you for sharing!  I for one would love to see more articles like this.    Whenever I try to walk a customer through a system check, I always worry that I'm insulting their intelligence by explaining basic troubleshooting steps.  But the most common reply I get is "Oh... I never thought to try that!"    (The next most common reply is "No, it CAN'T be that." Translation: I don't want to / don't know how to check that.  Bonus tip: Any time you're SURE it CAN'T be that, IT'S THAT. And the more sure you are, the more money I'll bet that it's that.)   ... View more

A group of Spec Miatas is a pinata party.  A pinata of Miatas.  ... View more

My older brother cheated at Risk and probably at Monopoly, but being 9 years younger I never caught him. The time I finally questioned the number of dice we were rolling in Risk was the last time we played.  (I must have been right.) He had Dealer's Choice but my only memory of it is looking at the box. I wonder if he knew there was little opportunity to guarantee a win? Another "car themed" game: Mille Bornes. It's a draw-a-card game of driving cross-country.  Draw an out-of-gas card, play a spare tire card, and collect miles until you reach 1000.  It seemed so much fun as a kid but what an impossibly endless bore as an adult (at least as an adult who finally read the directions). It seems to be designed for those "game nights" when your parents really wanted to get together with the neighbors and chat rather than concentrate on playing a game.  Definitely not a game for two people who have already been locked in a house together for three months.   ... View more

Soften heavy, greasy gunk with your favorite penetrating oil (WD, JB, Kroil, Rost Off, whatevs) before you reach for the cleaner.  Cleaners typically pull out the oils, which just makes the gunk more solid.  Saturate it with spray oil (let it soak if needed) and wipe with paper towels. Repeat until it's clean.  Yes, it will probably take a couple of tries, but it will leave a shiny finish which will protect against corrosion.  You might even decide to skip the cleaner and leave it as-is.   ... View more